No actual crimes in IRS 'scandal'

Friday

Jul 18, 2014 at 6:00 AM

In his letter of July 13, John Staffier called for a "special prosecutor" to investigate the much talked-about IRS affair. But as eloquent as he was, Mr. Staffier did not offer a shred of evidence that an actual crime was committed or that the White House had anything to do with any of it.

Let's track it:

Section 501(c)(4) of the tax code requires that in order to gain tax-exempt status, an organization must not be organized for profit and must be operated "exclusively for the promotion of social welfare."

Since the 1950s, "exclusively" was interpreted to mean "primarily," and political activities were not considered in themselves to be "social welfare" activities. A 50 percent threshold has ben used to make the distinction.

The IRS is required to determine whether an applicant organization qualifies for tax-exempt status under the law. Since "primarily" political organizations do not qualify, the IRS investigated the claims of both liberal and conservative political organizations.

No conservative organizations were denied tax-exempt status.

However, three liberal-leaning "Emerge America" groups from individual states were denied tax exempt status under the law.

The FBI reported earlier this year that there was no evidence to support the filing of criminal charges in connection with this affair, specifically noting that there was no evidence of "enemy hunting."

So, where is the wrongdoing? For me, the real scandal occurred during the Eisenhower administration when the word "exclusively" was interpreted as "primarily." The law should be enforced as written.